Posted 9:00 AM EST Thursday, January 14, 2021
Today will bring another warmer than the average day to the Valley behind a warm front that is lifting through eastern Ohio this morning. The afternoon will feature dry weather and a mix of sun and clouds and afternoon temperatures will reach the mid-40s. Today could well be THE warmest day we see in the Valley for the rest of the month.
Clouds will gradually increase this evening and tonight ahead of an upper-level storm complex that will bring a more active and colder weather pattern to east-central Ohio for the next several days. Temperatures will be warmest during the first half of Friday ahead of a cold front that will cross in the afternoon. Precipitation locally ahead of the front will be mostly light rain showers Friday morning. Those light rain showers will transition to snow as colder air moves in behind the front late Friday.
The cold front moves off to the Atlantic Coast followed by an upper-level low that slowly moves through the region on Saturday. This system will maintain the potential for occasional snow showers and breezy conditions for Saturday. A second upper-level low moves across east-central Ohio on Sunday and again there can be the occasional snow shower or two.
Total snow accumulation with these two systems looks fairly modest at best. Generally, we can expect an inch or two for the period Friday through Sunday locally. Note that the total snow amount is spread out over a couple of days. We won’t suddenly get snow all at once so the impacts should be minor.
The biggest impact in the area will be colder temperatures. While it won’t get crazy cold here in the Valley, temperatures will be more in line with what we would expect in mid-January with daytime highs in the mid-30s and nighttime lows in the upper-20s.
NEXT WEEK
Although it will be colder to start the new work week an upper-level ridge will keep mainly dry weather conditions Monday and Tuesday. The next opportunity for rain and/or snow showers will come Tuesday night and Wednesday with another cold front.
The precipitation trend in the CPC 6 to 10 day outlook features more opportunities for precipitation and a continuation of the active weather pattern.
Ooops! Did not intend to “thumbs down” your forecast/analysis. Your work is always excellent; my thumbs on the phone not so accurate. All I can say is my vote was a subliminal groan at wintry precip.